THE THRONE AND THE ARISTOCRACY.

THE

I.

THE Throne is the fountain of all Rank and Power in the Empire. Whatever honor or emolument a subject may be clothed with, in the Church or the State, flows from the Supreme Head. Such is the theory of the British government, and such it has been since the Battle of Hastings, 1066, when William the Conqueror established the Norman Line on the Throne of England, and from whom Victoria (the fifth English Queen in her own right) traces her blood.*

* SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND SUBSEQUENT TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

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THE ROYAL FAMILY.

N°

II.

O queen was ever born to so magnificent an empire; few have been more prosperous in their reigns, happier in their families, or more respected and beloved by their subjects. Once only has the shadow of death fallen on the brilliant family whose record is summed up thus:

THE QUEEN (Alexandrina) VICTORIA, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, only daughter of his late Royal Highness Edward, Duke of Kent, born May 24, 1819, succeeded to the throne on the decease of her uncle, King William IV., June 20, 1837. Proclaimed, June 21. Crowned Sovereign, at Westminster, June 28, 1838. Married, Feb. 10, 1840, at the Chapel Royal, St. James', to her cousin, Field-Marshal, His Royal Highness Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emanuel, Duke of Saxe, Prince of Saxe Cobourg and Gotha (b. Aug. 26, 1819, d. Dec. 14, 1861), K. T., G. C. B., &c. Issue--I. VICTORIA ADELAIDE MARY LOUISA, Princess Royal, b. Nov. 21, 1840, m. Jan. 25, 1858, Frederick William, Crown Prince of Prussia, K. G. Issue-1. Frederick William Victor Albert, b. Jan. 27, 1859. 2. Victoria Elizabeth Augusta Charlotte, b. July 24, 1860. 3. Albert Wilhelm Heinrich, b. Aug. 14, 1862. 4. A Prince, b. Sept. 15, 1864. II. ALBERT EDWARD, Prince of Wales, b. Nov. 9, 1841, m. March 10, 1863, Princess Alexandra Caroline Maria Charlotte Louisa Julia, of Denmark, b. Dec. 1, 1844. Issue-1. Albert Victor Christian Edward, b. Jan. 8. 1864. III. ALICE MAUD MARY, b. April 25, 1843, m. July 1, 1862,

LORDS, COMMONS, ARMY AND NAVY.

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His Royal Highness Prince Frederic William Louis of Hesse. Issue-1. Victoria Alberta Elizabeth Matilda Mary, b. April 5, 1863. IV. ALFRED ERNEST ALBERT, b. Aug. 6, 1844. V. HELENA AUGUSTA VICTORIA, b. May 25, 1846. VI. LOUISA CAROLINA ALBERTA, b. March 18, 1848. VII. ARTHUR PATRICK WILLIAM ALBERT, 6. May 1, 1850. VIII. LEOPOLD GEORGE DUNCAN ALBERT, b. April 7, 1853. IX. BEATRICE MARY VICTORIA FEODORE, b. April 14, 1857.

A

III.

RISTOCRACY AND ENGLAND:* they are synony

mous terms, and they will remain so until the whole fabric of Feudalism is overthrown in the British Empire.

The House of Lords consists of 425 peers and 28 bishops. There are 14 peeresses in their own right, of whom 1 is a duchess, 3 countesses, and 10 baronesses. There are 22 Scotch peers, and 88 Irish peers, who are neither peers of Parliament, nor representative peers.

The House of Commons consists of 656 members-England having 498 Scotland, 53; and Ireland, 105.

The Navy has 327 admirals, 782 captains, and 1,350 cominanders.

The Army has 5 field-marshals, 71 generals, 139 lieutenantgenerals, 361 major-generals, 900 colonels, 900 lieutenant-colonels, and 1,100 majors.

The Cabinet Ministers, the Judiciary, the Diplomatic Corps,

*Debrett's Peerage for 1865 shows that there are 24 dukes, 34 marquises, 197 earls, 57 viscounts, and 215 barons of the United Kingdom, 117 of whom are baronets, 430 have been married, the remaining 97 still being in a state of single blessedness; 80 have obtained academical honors at Oxford, whilst 50 have been receivers of the same from the sister university; only 9 peers are in holy orders, 2 of whom are bishops (Bath and Wells, and Tuam, Killala and Achonry): 743 of the younger sons of peers have obtained honors of various distinctions, have had or still hold government appointments, or, like 974 of the daughters of peers, are married. There are only 14 peeresses in their own right. Last year there died 4 dukes (Athol, Newcastle, and the second and third Dukes of Cleveland), 1 marquis (Bristol), 8 earls (Aberdeen, Gosford, Poulett, Morley, Cadogan, Stair, Carlisle and Clare, this last title becoming extinct), 1 viscount (Sidmouth), 4 barons (Ashburton, Manners, Rodney and > Somerville), 1 lord bishop (Ely), and one peeress in her own right (Ruthven).

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WHAT IS THE ARISTOCRACY?

the Chief Officers of India and all the Colonies-in a word, the enormous list of offices of emolument and honor throughout the British Empire are held or conferred by THE ARISTOCRACY. For this privileged class the Government exists, and for them alone. It is an Aristocracy pure and simple-not a Democratic element enters into it. It is the richest, the most powerful, the most splendid aristocratic organization of which we have any knowledge in human history. Nor is it possible to conceive a condition of society, or a series of events, that can ever produce its equal or its like on the face of the earth!

W

IV.

THAT is this British Aristocracy made up of-princes and princesses of royal blood, dukes and duchesses, marquises and marchionesses, earls and countesses, viscounts and viscountesses, barons and baronesses, bishops, admirals, generals, ambassadors, lord-lieutenants, judges, governors, and members of Parliament ?

The answer is short. They are the people that own and rule the Empire. Nobody else has much to do with it. The fee-simple of most of the land is in the Nobility.

The family estates of many an aristocratic house cover immense regions, exceeding in extent ordinary German principalities, and yielding revenues far greater. The annual income of the Marquis of Westminster, who owns all that part of London in the vicinity of Euston and Berkeley Squares, is $5,000,000, and that of the Duke of Buccleugh, is half that amount; that of the Duke of Roxborough, is $2,000,000. The Duke of Sutherland owns half of Scotland; but his revenues are somewhat less than any of the above, since the greater portion of his lands are irreclaimably barren. Some idea may be formed of the resources of the Duke of Buckingham, whose estates and effects were sold at Richmond, from the fact that his liabilities were not less than £1,500,000.

Although the lords receive directly no compensation for

POWER OF THE ARISTOCRACY.

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their services as the hereditary legislators of the realm, yet the immense patronage derived from their position is ten times more than equivalent. Through their influence they procure for themselves pensions of profitable places in the civil and military departments of the government, obtain commissions and preferments for their sons and nephews in the army and Church, and secure high and lucrative posts at Court for their wives and daughters. Out of the whole number of British peers, there are not fifty who do not themselves hold, or have not immediate relatives holding, valuable public offices. The Duke of Beaufort has a brother and an eldest son in the House of Commons, a son in the Life-Guards, nine brothers and cousins in the army, and three in the Church, and is patron of twentynine Church livings. The Duke of Bedford has two brothers in the House of Commons, a cousin who is Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery, eight brothers and nephews in the army and navy, and one brother in the Church, and is patron of twenty-seven Church livings. These two cases are proper samples of the character and extent of aristocratic patronage. It is true that military commissions are objects of sale in England, but yet it requires great personal influence to obtain them; and the official staff of the army is recruited mainly from the sons, nephews, and cousins of peers, deprived by the laws of entail and primogeniture of their fair share in the family estates. The extent to which nepotism and personal favoritism in the distribution of public offices have been carried in America, has justly excited great complaint. But these things, as known among us, are mere child's play compared with what is practised in England. There they ramify through every sphere of the public service, civil, military and ecclesiastical; and, what is worse, they are chiefly used to bolster up the family interests of a class whose wealth and other advantages, if rightly improved, would, without the aid of government, put within their reach every honorable station in professional or in public life.

The government of Great Britain is called a limited mon